Pressure Cooker Beef and Broccoli

Tender, thin sliced beef and broccoli in a rich sauce that is salty and sweet with just a little heat from the red pepper flakes. Cooking inexpensive beef chuck in the pressure cooker tenderizes the meat, so it’s not tough and chewy like stir fried beef and broccoli can often be.

You can make this Chinese takeout favorite at home in your pressure cooker in less time and for a fraction of the cost of eating out. I’ve made this recipe twice in the last few weeks and it’s quickly becoming a family favorite.

Season beef with salt and pepper. Put olive oil in the cooking pot and select browning. When oil begins to sizzle, brown meat in batches until all meat is browned - do not crowd. Transfer meat to a plate when browned.

When all meat is browned select Saute and add chopped onion to the pot. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes until onion starts to soften. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute more.

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I got an electric pressure cooker for Xmas & have only experimented with it a few times and each time the food was good, but nothing exciting. Made this recipe tonight & it was delicious!! We already can’t wait to devour the leftovers tomorrow! (The only reason there’s leftovers is I intentionally doubled the recipe for leftovers the next day!). The sauce is a bit sweeter than I’m used to, but it went nicely with the tiny bit of heat from the red pepper. The only thig I did differently was I used steaks to slice instead of the roast. Worked out to be the better buy on the day I was shopping. The meat was tender & delicious! We will definitely be making this again! Thanks for the recipe!

I just got an instant pot and this is the first meal I’ve made in it (so far I’d just done rice, boiled eggs, rice pudding, and yogurt). It was really delicious! I’m used to making broccoli & beef in a slow cooker on high for three hours, so this was nice.

My beef was slightly tougher than I would’ve liked – would you recommend cooking it longer or shorter to make it more tender?

Hi Amy – glad you enjoyed the recipe. What kind of beef did you use and how thinly was it sliced? If the beef was tough a little more time would help, but if it was dry then it was cooked too long. In my experience, meats with a little bit more fat taste better than lean meats cooked in the pressure cooker. A little more forgiving and most of the fat seems to melt away, leaving the meat more flavorful.

Just made this and cannot believe it’s my cooking! It tastes restaurant quality! I used boneless sirloin strips, but otherwise followed recipe exactly with my electric pressure cooker. Thank you for such a great recipe!

Okay, So I have a question for you…. We are traveling in our motorhome this weekend and I was thinking of having this recipe for a group dinner (2 families) but browning 8 lbs of beef would be a little tough to do on the small counter in the motorhome. Could I brown the beef at home on Wednesday, then freeze it, then slightly thaw and put in the pot on Saturday and finish the recipe? What do you think??? I would make sure to freeze the dripping with the meat, as I am sure that much flavor comes from it.

I think 8 lbs. of beef is too much to do in one batch in the pressure cooker. How about making two batches before you go. Pressure cook it and then freeze the meat and the unthickened sauce separately.

That would probably work, I could thicken the sauce in the PC, then split the sauce and meat between the PC and the crock pot to heat up. Thanks for the advice, I would hate to ruin that much meat! YIKES!!! Thanks so much!!!

I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now with different cuts of beef. It’s a huge hit with the family. The beef always comes out tender and full of flavor. The only thing I excluded was the red pepper flakes – the first time was by accident since I didn’t see where the recipe said to put them in but we never missed them so I’ve left them out.

LOVE your recipes!!
Just wondering when you give a time to cook and then 5 minutes to reach pressure do I start the timer after that. So if you say cook for 30 min (5 min to reach pressure) I’m really cooking for 35 min?

Thanks!! I have the old version of a pressure cooker I guess. The rocking timer on top.

Hi Melissa – thanks! Here’s how I would cook this recipe with a stovetop pressure cooker: Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker reaches pressure, lower the heat to the minimum required by the cooker to maintain high pressure. Cook for 12 minutes at high pressure. When time is up, open the cooker by releasing the pressure.

You don’t count the time it takes to reach pressure in the cooking time because it will be different for everyone depending on pressure cooker being used, altitude, etc.